BEER TRAVEL

Beer Travel: Iceland Revisited

Three years on from his last visit, Bert Spinks finds a craft beer scene in Iceland that has expanded significantly. He meets the first female led brewery, discovers a world of long happy hours and collaborations and finds common ground with home.

The Beer In North Korea

If you're a regular reader of The Crafty Pint, chances are high you've been on your fair share of brewery tours. But one in North Korea? We got in touch with the man leading the first of its kind for tourists to find out more about the DPRK beer scene.

Beer Travel: Cruising The Murray

Sinking a few beers on the banks of the Murray on a visit to the Woolshed Brewery is a pleasure in itself. But what about taking out one of the operation's houseboats, complete with two taps pouring the beers of your choice?

Beer Travel: Thirsty In Hungary

Our resident wanderer (can you be such a thing?), Bert Spinks has been soaking up the good times in Budapest. Join him as he calls in on the pioneers of Hungary's craft beer scene.

Lessons From America

For years, the Australian industry has followed the lead of its American counterpart. So what can we learn from a beer culture that's far more ingrained than ours and has fought many of the battles facing local brewers and beer lovers today?

Our Man In NZ: Craftwork Brewery

Wizards, a tumble dryer, Belgian-inspired ales, porno beer, the tiniest of tasting rooms and a dark lord... Our Man In NZ heads to Craftwork Brewery and falls under the spell of Michael O'Brien and Lee-Ann Scotti.

Wild And Wise

Jaega Wise from Wild Card is one of the London brewers appearing in Melbourne as part of Good Beer Week's Good Beer Mates program. We caught up with the brewer-singer-campaigner-presenter-van driver-chemical engineer at her Walthamstow home.

Beer Travel: Yarra Valley

The region might still be best known for wine but today the Yarra Valley offers visits a plethora of food and drink options. It's home to a growing number of breweries and venues where you'll find a few crafties too, so here's our guide to finding grain amid the grapes.

A Beer Drinker's Guide To The Commonwealth Games

With the Commonwealth Games in full swing and the Gold Coast home to much in the way of great beer, expat Kiwi Steffan Paton serves up his first article for The Crafty Pint.

Beer Travel: Christchurch

For a city with an extensive brewing history, Christchurch breweries are not as prominent in beer drinkers’ thoughts as those from Wellington and Auckland. But Our Man in New Zealand, Jono Galuszka, found a beer culture comfortable in its own skin.

Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B
Pickled OnMarket
Beer Travel: Bavaria

Himmel Hünd Brewery co-founder Annabel Meagher won a Pink Boots Society scholarship last year that saw her travel to Germany's south. There, she immersed herself in Bavarian beer culture –

Beer Travel: The South Of The Great Southern State

While better known for its wineries, the region to the south of Adelaide has long been home to a number of small breweries too. With three more set to open venues in and around McLaren Vale in 2018, we figured it was ripe for a beer-themed travel guide...

Cans, Bands and Beer Lands

The combination of good music and craft beer has become a common sight at music festivals across the United States. In Australia, progress is slower, but the ironclad grip of the big boys is slowly loosening and local Australian breweries are sneaking their way in.

Crafty Crawls: Far North Queensland

In late 2013, The Crafty Pint travelled with Mountain Goat to Cairns for the launch of their Summer Ale cans. It's fair to say, those cases were almost the only craft beer to be found in the region. Since then, however, much has changed.

Beer Travel: Nelson-Tasman

While Wellington claims to be New Zealand’s "craft beer capital" and cities like Christchurch and Auckland occasionally stake a claim for the title, the Nelson/Tasman area feels like its home. Our Man In NZ Jono Galuszka recounts his weeklong road trip through the area,

Beer Travel: 48 Hours In Portland

To suggest you could conquer Portland in anything less than literal years is an utter falsehood. If time is limited, the best one can hope for is to tick off beer meccas such as Deschutes or Cascade while hoping to get under the skin of one of the world's best beer cities. Kerry McBride gave it a go.

Beer Travel: Much Ado About Pliny

Russian River Brewing Company - the home of Pliny the Elder - is one of the world's most admired breweries. Kerry McBride caught up with its owners to hear the lengths they go to so in keeping their fans sated and asks: "Will their beers ever make it to Australia?"

Crafty Crawls: The Great Ocean Road

Any trip along the Great Ocean Road always came with the promise of natural beauty and jaw-dropping experiences – unless you were after good beer. Today, with a number of small breweries calling the region home, the situation is much improved.

Beer Nuts: Paul Cooke

Talk about dedication to the cause. Paul and Laura Cooke have taken a year away from teaching to tour Australia, calling in to as many breweries as they can, with Paul writing notes for every beer along the way. A true Beer Nut!

Beer Travel: Yorkshire

In the last of four articles inspired by his global travels, Nic Sandery recounts his time spent in one of the world's lesser discussed traditional brewing regions. In Yorkshire, he soaks up beers old and new, but mainly midnight curries with giant naan breads.

Beer Travel: Bamberg

Nic Sandery is a young brewer set to launch Molly Rose Brewing in the second half of 2017. He embarked on a global beer tour seeking inspiration for his beers and has been documenting his experiences for us. Here, he visits German home of smoke, Bamberg.

Our Man In NZ: ParrotDog Surfs On

From brewing in a toilet to trophy-winning rising stars of the New Zealand brewing industry, it's been quite the ride for the three Matts behind ParrotDog. Jono Galuszka joins them as they settle into their impressive new Lyall Bay home.

Aussie Exports: Zac From Zenith

Our Aussie Exports series makes a first visit to South America. There, in Peru, we find Zac Lanham at the helm of Cervecería Zenith, a microbrewery he founded with wife Milka in Cusco, the historic city in the heart of the Peruvian Andes.

Our Man In NZ: Beer Camp Heads South

Beervana has lined up a meaty exclusive, luring Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp outside the US for the first time. With more American breweries looking at the Australasian market, Jono Galuszka looks at what it means for the festival and the NZ beer scene.

Breaking China II

In Breaking China, we spoke to Australian brewers looking to secure export to China on the challenges they faced. In part two, we seek a different perspective from Chinese beer writers and an expat in Melbourne working to establish a distribution network for Aussie brewers.

Beer Travel: The Other High Country Beer Trail

The High Country Brewery Trail in North East Victoria is one of the most popular and rewarding trips an Aussie beer tourist can take. The region is also home to some fine craft beer supporting pubs. And here are the best of them.

Beer Travel: Istanbul

Storyteller Spinks is off on another meander through the Northern Hemisphere. In his latest update, he calls in on two of the craft brewers of Istanbul and discovers the issues facing Aussie brewers pale in comparison.

Aussie Exports: From Melbourne To Tallinn

During Good Beer Week in 2016, if you called in to the Canadian Pint of Origin venue, you may well have been served by Rob Dooley. A year later, he's working for a brewery in Estonia after following his girlfriend when she headed home.

Craft Beer Rides North

For all the talk about microbreweries bursting into life across Tasmania, the north has been lacking supportive retailers. That's steadily changing, with new venues opening and old ones enjoying a new lease on life.

Our Man In NZ: Brewpubs

The brewpub model is growing in popularity on both sides of the Tasman. In his latest article for The Crafty Pint, Our Man In NZ, Jono Galuszka, chats to three people heading down that path in Wellington and Palmerston North.

FB*Propak new D2
Premium Machinery D2
Our Man In NZ: Spontaneity

In his latest article on the New Zealand beer scene, Jono Galuszka talks to two of the men exploring beer's "final frontier". They are two of a growing number of brewers turning their attention to spontaneous fermentation.

The Beers Really From Up Here

There's been plenty of talk about the rise of craft beer in Queensland in recent years. For the most part, it's been centred around the state's South East but, as Will Ziebell finds, it's gaining a toehold in the Far North too.

Beer Travel: 12 Hours In San Diego

When Aussie beer lovers head to the States, they usually give themselves several weeks to explore the beer scene. What if you've only got 12 hours? In San Diego for a conference, Marie Claire Jarratt discovered the answer is: plenty.

Beer Travel: High Country Part II

Earlier this week, we ran the first part of Kerry McBride's jaunt through the Victorian High Country, calling in on the members of the region's Brewery Trail. Today, she completes the trip at three more breweries.

Beer Travel: High Country Part I

The High Country Brewery Trail has expanded to stretch hundreds of kilometres and include seven breweries. Over the course of a three day weekend, Kerry McBride stopped in at each and every one.

Brooklyn Back Down Under

Brooklyn Brewery is well on its way to becoming a global brand. We caught up with CEO Eric Ottaway during his current visit to Australia to chat lager, caution, over-saturation and the move towards hyper-local brewing.

Our Man in NZ: Moa's Changing Fortunes

​Our new Kiwi correspondent, Jono Galuszka, today kicks off his monthly feature series by sitting down with one of the most controversial figures in New Zealand beer, Moa's CEO, Geoff Ross.

Our Man In NZ: Introducing Jono Galuszka

Like many Kiwis, Jono Galuszka’s first forays into beer were of the cheap, cold and tasteless kind while at uni. Things have changed significantly since, with Jono named New Zealand Beer Writer of the Year in 2015. In 2017, he joins the Crafty Pint team as our regular New Zealand writer.

Aussie Beer Blogs: offthetap

He loves beer, he loves travel, and he loves to hunt down new beers when he travels. So Matt Johnson decided to start capturing his passions via another one: photography, creating offthetap and attracting Instagram followers in the thousands.

South Australia's Next Wave Pt I

Recent years have seen the South Australian brewing scene expand rapidly. And there's little sign of things slowing down soon, as Matt King discovered when he made contact with the next wave of brewers coming through.

Cryer E
Bintani- Updated Behind The Brew- E
Beer Travel: Malaysia

Five years ago, two Melbourne brothers enticed their cousins to join them and open a craft beer bar in Kuala Lumpur. Taps has ended up spawning Malaysia's nascent craft beer scene, as Kerry McBride discovers.

Aussie Exports: Jimmy Krekelberg

From homebrewing in Victoria to hammering at the doors of breweries in Scotland then ending up at one of the world's best in The Netherlands, life on the road's turned out pretty darn well for Jimmy Krekelberg.

Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour IV Wine Country

In the final part of his Tiki Tour around the breweries of New Zealand's central North Island, Nick Oscilowski takes in the wine regions of the east coast before ending up in the middle...

Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour III Greater Wellington

Wellington may have the big name reputation when it comes to craft beer, but it’s being rivalled by what’s brewing in its outer regions, as Nick O discovers on the third of his four-part saunter through the North Island.

Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour II West Coast, North Island

In the second leg of a leisurely trip through some of New Zealand's lesser known North Island breweries, Nick Oscilowski heads towards the west coast and discovers something old and something new...

Beer Travel: Darwin

While there's much talk of craft beer booming across Australia, what of the Top End? As Bert Spinks discovers, the microbrewing industry there has just doubled in size. OK, so that still means there's just two, but they're beery and boisterous.

Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour I Coromandel

There are plenty of great Kiwi breweries that are well known in Australia. But there's much else to discover too. In the first of four features on some of the lesser known lights of the North Island, Nick Oscilowski heads to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Beer Travel: North Carolina

For most Aussies visiting the US the West Coast takes priority. But, as part of his mission to explore global beer cultures, Molly Rose founder Nic Sandery chose to spend time in North Carolina. In his second article for us, here's what he discovered there.

Wild Things

With a reputation for walking on the wild side well established, Kiwi trailblazers Garage Project are set to get wilder still. Kerry McBride joined them for a tour of their new Wild Workshop where they'll be working with barrels, foeders and a coolship.

Beer Travel: Japan

Nic Sandery is on a worldwide beer tour on which he plans to take inspiration for his new brewing company, Molly Rose. While on the road, he is sending us a series of articles documenting his travels, starting with this report from Japan.